It has long been known to construct trailer hitches that are mounted to vehicles in order to allow the towing of trailers or the like. In recent years, such trailer hitches have been designed to include a central frame member or crossbar carrying mounting brackets at each end thereof for mounting the trailer hitch to the frame of the towing vehicle. The trailer hitches also include a receiver box having a rearwardly directed opening or cavity for the receipt of a hitch or draw bar that carries a hitch ball or other means allowing connection to a trailer. Examples of such a structure include the 35, 36 and 37 series Custom Receivers and Titan 45 series hitch receivers manufactured by Cequent Towing Products, Inc., the assignee of the present invention.
In recent years, vehicle manufacturers have offered not only an increasing number of vehicle options but also an increasing number of vehicle models. In order to avoid the manufacturing expense of custom designing and fitting a trailer hitch receiver to each such vehicle model or each model with each available group of equipment options, it is necessary to provide a single hitch receiver with unparalleled mounting versatility to allow mounting to multiple vehicle models and vehicle models equipped with various option packages.
One effort made in the prior art to meet this need is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,122 to Helber. This adjustable hitch assembly merely allows one to alter the span of the frame mounting points and/or the height of the main frame or cross member. The apparatus is, however, relatively complicated and includes a number of parts to allow adjustability while providing for the mounting of the main frame member. Further, a conventional telescoping tubular construction is used and this introduces substantial play into the arrangement resulting in a detrimental loss in rigidity.